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You have acquired the Soul Power of First Order Heavy Hobgoblin level 47]

[Freeze Unclassified enemies: 5000 / 5000]

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[Kill unclassified enemies using the Ice Maker skill: 2000 / 2000]

[Kill First Order enemies: 2 / 2]

[Charm an enemy with your natural beauty: 1 / 1]

[You have successfully evolved to First Order and acquired the unique class Charming Ice. Your innate beauty is worth contemplating and appreciating. As pure and unblemished as a flawless ice fairy. All Ice-type attacks inflict 20% more damage and increase the resistance of your ice creations by another 20%. Your Charm increases]

[You have acquired Second Order Active Skill level 1 Charming Eye]

[You have leveled up to level 32. You have gained 14 status points to distribute freely]

[All absorbed Soul Power has been calculated correctly. You get additional stats: Strength +40, Agility +29, Stamina +25, Health +20, Mana +30, Magic +27]

Although Shangguan Bing Xue had accumulated more Soul Power to level up than Bai Zemin by the time she successfully evolved, this was because he had advanced to First Order significantly faster than she had.

With about a week more time accumulating experience, it was natural for her to level up a little more in comparison. However, even then, the amount of additional stats she had accumulated were far less than Bai Zemin's at that time.

This was because Shangguan Bing Xue had accumulated Soul Power from weaker existences, while Bai Zemin had fought and killed more than one First Order being before successfully evolving.

After evolving to First Order, Shangguan Bing Xue felt as if a new world had opened up before her and her soul was strengthened in such a way that, for a moment, she herself could not believe it.

But the most important thing for the present her was that after leveling up her Stamina regenerated to 100% immediately and the Mana gained due to the extra stats she had accumulated during the process of evolving to First Order had caused her completely pale face to gain some color again.

"Congratulations on evolving to First Order."

A lazy voice brought her out of her inner fantasy world and looking to the side she saw Bai Zemin waving his hand from a distance.

"Seeing as there are no more goblins around and since you're okay, I'll head back to the village. That Chen He guy is probably out of his mind since I assume he heard that you were attacked on the way."

Leaving those words behind, Bai Zemin stomped his foot on the ground and disappeared from his position leaving a gale behind him.

Seeing this, Shangguan Bing Xue's glance became a bit complicated and she couldn't help but sigh as she sat down next to a tree as although her Stamina had regenerated mental fatigue was present.

"Even though I just received a huge power boost, even though I can feel my Soul Power becoming infinitely purer than before I evolved, I still can't even understand how strong you are." Shangguan Bing Xue muttered under her breath as she recalled that ghostly speed with which Bai Zemin disappeared as well as the look of fear in the Heavy Hobgoblin's eyes.

Shangguan Bing Xue was a competitive woman by nature and even more so against the opposite sex due to certain past events as she wanted to prove herself that women could stand on their own and surpass men. However, the stronger she became, the more she felt that the distance between her and Bai Zemin increased.

In the past, regardless of whether it was the talented and handsome Chen He or any other outstanding young man, Shangguan Bing Xue had been able to surpass them all; from school grades to combat ability, she was simply perfect in every aspect.

However, since the apocalypse broke out without warning, Bai Zemin had unconsciously become her greatest rival. She had strived to surpass him and, in fact, at some point their strength was not that far apart and except for different strengths, their overall power was similar.

But at some unknown moment, that normal-looking young man with an ordinary past with nothing to highlight simply shot into the sky, and now she could barely make out his shadow.

"Forget it..." After a second sigh, her blue eyes turned to the shattered corpse of the Heavy Hobgoblin and her lips curved into a cold smile.

She had taken a risk when she had chosen the unique class Charming Ice as the last requirement might be somewhat difficult. However, she knew she was beautiful and was confident in her beauty as well as her own strength.

But after so many days, no human of the First Order had crossed her path, so her beauty had no use whatsoever. After all, the mutated and evolved monsters did not notice the beauties of mankind.

Fortunately for her, goblins appeared, who were lustful by nature.

Unaware that there was someone floating in the sky hundreds of meters above, Shangguan Bing Xue stood up after resting for a moment and picked up the drop obtained from her victory.

Above the white clouds, Lilith sighed before disappearing completely and without a trace.

...

When Shangguan Bing Xue first entered the village, Chen He ran up to her with a face pale in fright and hurriedly asked, "Bing Xue! How are you? I just heard that a group of goblin-like monsters from the legends attacked you!"

Seeing her childhood friend's handsome face filled with worry and she couldn't help but smile slightly, "Don't worry. Nothing happened to me and Bai Zemin was also there in case his intervention was needed."

"This..." Chen He seemed to ignore much of her words and looked at her dumbfounded. After a few seconds, he noted, "Bing Xue, you... Have you become more beautiful or something?"

Although Shangguan Bing Xue was beautiful from before, when Chen He looked at her carefully now he couldn't help but feel that she had suddenly become a little more beautiful than usual.

"Ah... This is because of..." Shangguan Bing Xue gave him a brief summary of what had happened as he led her towards the main villa.

On the way, the armed men guarding the important areas saluted respectfully and the survivors who had been ordered not to leave their homes temporarily looked out the windows at the scene, wondering what would become of their lives now.

"So... You've already evolved to First Order?" Chen He was surprised. He was currently level 24 so he only now learned about evolutions and similar matters. Listening to Shangguan Bing Xue, everything felt strange to him.

"That's right." She nodded and a militant guarding the door to the hall inside the main villa quickly opened the closed door to allow them to pass through.

Inside, Shangguan Bing Xue and Chen He were greeted by the sight of Bai Zemin and Lili chatting with casual smiles. Occasionally she laughed at his jokes or he grunted in annoyance at hers.

"These two definitely have something." Chen He cupped a hand over the side of his mouth and whispered.

"Who knows..." Shangguan Bing Xue replied stepping into the room.

"Bai Zemin, what's wrong with those goblins?"

Bai Zemin, who was chatting with Lilith to relieve some of the tension he felt due to the appearance of a new type of enemy, was attracted by Shangguan Bing Xue's unmistakable voice.

He looked at her and Chen He before pointing to the seat in front of him and saying in a deep voice, "Sit down. We need to talk."

So..." Chen He frowned deeply and looked at Bai Zemin with a completely serious expression, "What you are saying is that you think that because of this new energy called mana, it is possible for new life forms to slowly begin to emerge?"

Bai Zemin nodded with a firm expression and asked back, "If you think about it carefully, it's actually not too crazy, don't you think? This thing called Soul Record can even grow us to monstrous levels where we can destroy and demolish houses with our bare fists, obtain strange treasures out of thin air, and level up like characters out of a video game."

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The room remained silent as everyone present seemed to sink into deep thought.

Before, after Shangguan Bing Xue returned from the forest where she had faced the goblins, Bai Zemin gave them a simple but concrete summary of the information Lilith had given him previously. Of course, to avoid suspicion he simply said that it was an idea that had occurred to Lili, who was by his side.

Shangguan Bing Xue looked at Lili with narrowed eyes before turning her face towards Bai Zemin.

"I think Lili's thoughts are not crazy." She expressed with a slight frown and pointed out, "In this new world, anything is possible and we have no choice but to adapt to the circumstances and the new rules of the game if we want to survive."

Chen He also nodded to express that he agreed as well. However, he soon noticed a major problem.

"If things are really like this, then doesn't it mean that humanity is in deep trouble? Just the zombies and some mutated beasts and a few evolved ones already cornered all human beings... If even more unknown species appear on the chessboard, won't it increase the difficulty of the game to hell mode?"

Bai Zemin sighed and nodded heavily, "Indeed... It could be said that the chess game became several levels more difficult now that the goblins appeared. Although we don't know if their numbers are too much, if they are like the goblins in the human stories then we have to fear the reproductive ability of these little monsters."

Shangguan Bing Xue brushed her hair and pointed out an irrefutable truth: "Thinking too much about this matter will get us nowhere considering that we hardly know anything about it. I think what we have to do hasn't changed anyway, hasn't it?"

"That's true." Chen He sighed and scratched his head a little tired with the whole sudden situation.

Bai Zemin remained silent for a few minutes. The only sound inside the room was the breathing of the four people present.

After about five minutes, under the watchful eyes of Shangguan Bing Xue and Chen He, Bai Zemin looked at Lilith and stood up.

"I have decided." His eyes flashed coldly and his determined voice gave the final verdict: "We will continue charging in a southerly direction. We need to find the military camp as soon as possible!"

If only he could get the equipment from a military arsenal, Bai Zemin was confident that, at the very least, he wouldn't have to be hiding like a sewer rat for fear of zombies. After all, even for the current him, it was impossible to protect 1500 survivors from the claws of zombies or any other enemy 100%.

No matter how strong he was, Bai Zemin was still only a human being who had just begun to take his first steps on the path of evolution. He did not have the ability to shake the heavens and the earth, nor was he capable of annihilating armies with a wave of his hands.

Until then, modern firearms were something he could rely on.

First Order existences were still relatively scarce while Second Order ones were practically non-existent. Therefore, unless they were unlucky, their worst enemies were zombies and other types of Unclassified monsters.

Against these types of enemies, modern firearms capable of placating entire armies were the best counterattack and defense.

Light machine guns, heavy machine guns, IFVs, battle tanks, machine gun mounted vehicles, helicopters, fighter planes, and many other weapons capable

capable of increasing the battle capability of the weak human race enormously against enemies that outnumbered them by a wide margin.

Of course, there were also other factors such as having the ability to properly operate such weaponry. After all, the weapons were machines that needed to be operated by human beings, and depending on the use to which they were put the result could be a completely different one than the one expected.

However, it was better to have than not to have. Therefore, Bai Zemin followed by Shangguan Bing Xue, Chen He, and Lilith in her human form began to delegate simple and quick orders immediately without even pausing to rest for a moment.

* * *

On a road heading south, two modified jeeps were speeding along in the middle of the night.

The surroundings were silent up to the point where the faint whistling of the wind whipping the branches of the dark, unnaturally sized trees at the edge of the road. No matter where one looked, all was pitch black and the only source of light was the four headlights of the only two vehicles on the road.

Inside one of the modified jeeps, the one leading the way at the front, Shangguan Bing Xue, Wu Yijun, and the driver rode in silence. Only when they came to an intersection would the vehicle stop, forcing the second to stop as well, and they would only resume driving when Wu Yijun pointed the way forward.

After all, she was the only one with clear knowledge of the direction of the military camp.

In the second modified jeep, Bai Zemin, Chen He, and the driver rode in silence just like the women in the first jeep. The only difference was that, unlike the jeep in which the women were traveling, the silence inside the jeep in which they were traveling was heavier as none of the three said even a single word.

Chen He was observing the surroundings with caution as traveling at night was incredibly dangerous.

The driver was too nervous because of the gloomy night and the frightening environment as well as the respect he had for the two people beside him that made it difficult for him to even breathe. Therefore, the man only drove following the lead of the main jeep.

As for Bai Zemin, like Chen He, he was scanning the surroundings with cold eyes. Besides, he was not a very talkative person to begin with and was not particularly close to any person present so he simply focused on the road while trying to imagine different scenarios.

In these scenarios, different enemies and in differents numbers appeared while he projected different ways and efficient methods to obtain victory with the least possible losses in the least amount of time. That way he could better respond to different unexpected problems that might arise out of nowhere.

In total, they traveled for more than eight hours without rest.

It was eight hours of tension and exhaustion, but after so much effort it was finally time to see the fruits.